In modern vehicle control systems, several partially opposing demands act on the existing actuators (e.g. drive unit, transmission, etc.). Thus, the drive unit of a vehicle should be controlled, for example, on the basis of a command input by the driver and setpoint values from external and/or internal closed-loop and open-loop control functions, such as a traction control system, an engine drag-torque control system, a transmission control system, an engine-speed and/or speed-limitation control system, and/or an idling-speed control system. These setpoint selections act partially in opposition to each other so that, since the drive unit may only adjust one setpoint selection, these setpoint selections are coordinated, i.e. a setpoint selection to be realized is chosen or determined.
In the context of controlling a drive unit, German Published Patent Application No. 197 39 567 describes such a coordination of different setpoint torque values. In this case, using maximum-value and/or minimum-value selection, setpoint values for the drive-unit control paths, which are realized in the current operating state by determining the magnitudes of the individual control parameters of the drive unit, e.g., in the case of an internal combustion engine, the charge, the ignition angle, and/or the amount of fuel to be injected, are selected from the setpoint torque values. In this case, boundary conditions for adjusting the setpoint values are not considered.